Marcella+Metzler

Mrs. Marcella Beillia Metzler, alias Medan, was charged with involvement in the abortion death of Ida M. Vail. She blamed Dr. D. J. E. Collins, “a physician in good standing and large practice.”

I'm having trouble gathering information on Metzler.

In the 1870 New Jersey census, Marcella Metzler gave her age as 30, born in Halifax, NJ, and her profession as "physician, with Frederick Crosier, identified in news records as her son, listed in her household and working as a clerk.

The 1880 Federal census lists Marcella Metzler as an inhabitant of the New York State Prison, age 44, born in France, and a professional abortionist.



Source: “The Vail Abortion Case,” //San Francisco Chronicle//, Oct. 8, 1873